13. People Reconstruct Memories Each Time They Remember Them

Think back to a particular event that happened at least 5 years ago. Maybe it was a wedding, a family gathering, a dinner with friends, or a vacation. Remember the people and where you were. Maybe you can remember the weather or what you were wearing.

Memories Change

When you think about this event, it probably plays in your mind like a short movie clip. Because you experience memories this way, you tend to think that memories are stored in their entirety and never change, like an archived movie. But that’s not what happens.

Memories are actually reconstructed every time we think of them. They’re not movie clips that are stored in the brain in a certain location, like files on a hard drive. They are nerve pathways that fire anew each time we remember the event. This makes for some interesting effects. For example, the memory can change each time it is retrieved.

Other events that occur after the original event can change the memory of the original event. At the original event, you and your cousin were close friends. But later on you have an argument and a falling-out that lasts for years. Over time when you recall the memory of the first event, it changes without you realizing it. It starts to include your cousin being aloof and cold, even if that is not true. The later experience has changed your memory.

You’ll also start to fill in memory gaps with made-up sequences of events, but these will seem as real to you as the original event. You can’t remember who else was at the family dinner, but Aunt Jolene is usually present at these events, and so over time your memory of the event will include Aunt Jolene, even if she wasn’t there.